exploring potential and possibility

Archive for the month “September, 2016”

One of the things I’m not good at is following up on ideas. I get great ideas and intentions, and then forget to follow up on them. There are a couple of different ways I’m trying to map out tasks and ideas I need to follow up on.

I’ve created my own “planner.” It won’t really kick in until the new year, but it is helping me keep track of the events and tasks that are easily planned and scheduled. Once the new year starts I’ll probably add a bullet journal into it. I’ll try to include pictures once I figure out how I’m going use it.

I also have a “creative” journal – the idea was to divide each pair of pages up into seven sections and then decorate each of the sections with something that applied to that day. It could just be the date and a freehand background design or it could include other decorative items like tape or stickers. It could include the horrible drawings that I do – because I haven’t sat down and applied myself to actually learning to draw LOL. Great idea – execution not so great. Sometimes I remember to decorate a section and sometimes I don’t. It really depends on how many things I have on my mental list for the day.

I got smart and put all my writing ideas in one place. When I’m ready to take one from concept-and-notes to actual story, I transform the concept card/folder into its own file. And for the series that wasn’t supposed to be a series 😉 I’m creating a “canon” book or story “bible” so that I don’t lose details about characters, places, timelines, etc.

I’m still working on finding the combination of things that will let me map the shadows effectively.

I adore his Solar Clipper/ Deep Dark stories. The main characters aren’t “heroes”. They are everyday people who make the effort to look outside of the boxes they are familiar with. In Quarter Share, the lead character’s first accomplishment is making good coffee! Ishmael’s stories go with me every time I travel. They’re old friends that I never tire of catching up on. At the same time, I avidly look forward to Nathan’s new stories – especially those in the Solar Clipper/Deep Dark universe.

From their self published and small press works to their traditionally published novels, I’ve loved everything – fiction and non-fiction – I’ve read. Both are extremely approachable on social media as well. If you want a fun entry point to steampunk, that involves more than just pasting gears on to things, try their Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences series.

If you like horror, sci-fi, or football, take a look at Scott’s works. Though he has lousy taste in beer, he’s a wonderful storyteller, and for a “Future Dark Overlord (FDO)”, he’s a pretty decent guy. I don’t know if he’ll remember the “brewmistress” after all these years, but I remember the Houston book signing for Infected and being asked what beer at the brewpub he should get. Then there was the first Podcasters’ Pimp party at DragonCon 2007 when he learned I’d brought my own homebrewed beer. 😉

There are other authors I adore – but they have larger, traditional publishing audiences. These authors are perhaps (Scott is a NYT bestseller) less well known. But they are all authors that I’ve personally met – back in the early days of podcasting. They’ve chosen to blaze non-traditional paths for others, including myself, to follow, and for the most part not gotten the credit or recognition they deserve. They helped to set me on the path to publication, encouraged me in podcasting, brewing, and writing. The least I can do is give them a shout out here.

These are some of the authors that light the paths through the shadows for me. Maybe they can do the same for you.

I spend a good amount of time wandering in the shadows of my own mind. The stories I find there, at some point, get written down – or at least notes get made about them. I have a completely different site for my writing: J Lynn Baker, so you won’t see me talk about here very often. But something sort of big is happening today.

I have a story in an anthology. Today is Cover Reveal day. And today is the day the e-version of the anthology goes on pre-sale. So I had to post something about it here.

All the details, information, and links are available at the other site, so I’m just going to post the cover art, created by the very talented Amanda Lewis.

Some of the skills I’m trying to improve on are my calligraphy and illumination skills. I’m kind of concentrating on Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantine) styles for now. Not many people in my area are doing this style, and I like the way the calligraphy and illumination look. These are two of the pieces I’ve done for a friend, even though I haven’t been playing in the SCA.

They came out pretty good, though I can still see lots of room for improvement.

In my last post I mentioned that I had crocheted three shawls. I’m one of those people who gets cold easily, so shawls come in handy when I’m at work or traveling. I only have pictures of two of them completed. The third picture is just the first couple of repeats of the shawl.

The first picture is of a shawl that was supposed to be mine, but when it was finished I wasn’t really happy with the colors. My sister, on the other hand, adored it. So I gave it to her!

Butterfly Stitch Shawl in Desert colors

The second picture is a completely different pattern. This one was intended from the beginning to be kept at work, so I picked a really boring neutral color for it. I love the pattern though and expect I’ll be making a few more in different colors and different weight yarns.

Victorian/Steampunk style shawl

The third picture is actually the first shawl I did. It’s the same butterfly stitch as the first shawl, but a different weight and color of yarn.